What constitutes sufficient evidence of qualification of welding procedures and personnel?
AWS D1.1:2004 Section 4 covers two types of welding procedures, prequalified and qualified; as well as the qualification of welders, welding operators, and tackers. With prequalified procedures, as described in AWS D1.1:2004 Section 3, project-specific qualification by weld procedure testing is not required. However, procedures that deviate from tolerances described therein must be qualified by weld procedure testing as indicated in AWS D1.1:2004 Section 4.1.1. Such testing is time-consuming and costly, and may be repetitious if similar joints have already been tested for previous projects. Likewise, arbitrary re-qualification of personnel, as sometimes specified in contract documents, may unjustifiably increase the cost of welded construction. As stated in AWS D1.1:2004 Section 4.1.1, properly documented evidence of previous qualification of joint welding procedures should be accepted without re-qualification. Additionally, properly documented evidence of previous qualification of wel
